


Lunch Break

by raspberrylimonade



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Titans (Comics)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 13:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20210845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberrylimonade/pseuds/raspberrylimonade
Summary: Dick visits Rachel during his lunch hour.





	Lunch Break

**Author's Note:**

> Started this for RobRae week 2019 day 2 - Coffee vs Tea. Finally finished it. Bon appetit.

One way or another, the supervillain activity dies down.

Sure, they still fight crime and the occasional metahuman, but there are no Trigons, no Brotherhoods of Evil, no Slades.

This leaves the team with a lot of time on their hands, and for some, the chance to experience a sense of normalcy.

Raven becomes Rachel Roth.

Robin returns to the name Dick Grayson.

Rachel Roth is a student at Jump Public University.

Dick Grayson is a cop in training.

Rachel Roth is going out with Dick Grayson.

They are taking it slow, having gotten together in the midst of the last big altercation. Back then they were heightened emotions and desperate moments in the dark, a lifeline to hold onto in turbulent times. Now they can have comfortable silences and the luxury of seeing where their relationship will lead.

They have (well, Dick has) an apartment in the city, mostly for the sake of having a normal residential address to put on paper, though they do spend the night there occasionally.

As often as their schedules allow, they meet at the JPU cafeteria for lunch or a tea break. Dick parks his motorcycle in the 2-hour parking lot, conveniently next to the student life building.

The student life building is the largest and newest building on campus, glassy and well-lit with lots of natural light. About half the ground floor is a cafe-slash-study area - their usual meeting spot.

There is no line today at the newsstand serving the area. Dick scans the crowd for Rachel while waiting for his order. It’s not quite peak hour, but most tables are occupied nonetheless. He finally spies her right in the middle, at a two-person table.

Her hair, typically a bright violet, is charmed to be a dark bob in school. It took Dick a while to get used to at first, but he knew it was necessary to maintain her civilian identity.

She’s holding a book open in one hand, eyes glued to the pages. Ever so often, her free hand reaches for the ceramic cup next to her, and she’ll take a sip of what is no doubt tea without looking away from her reading.

_ “Beef panini and a double-shot americano.” _

He’s glad to find, as he approaches, that there’s a small plate on her other side, indicating that she ate something. Sure, she is half-demon with different dietary requirements. With their lifestyle, however, one never knows when they will need their strength. He needs his team to stay healthy and nourished. Besides, he worries. With Rachel’s somewhat atypical behaviours, there is an extremely fine line between what is normal for her and what’s wrong. He doesn’t want to miss anything if she’s hurting.

To the outside eye, he gets no reaction from Rachel as he approaches her table. However, Dick knows she knows he’s there by the fact that her eyes aren’t moving across the page. With her powers, she could have felt his presence the moment he stepped into the building, or pulled into the parking lot even. He finds one corner of his mouth ticking up at the thought of her waiting for him.

His smirk grows bigger when she still doesn’t react externally as he slides into the seat opposite her. She’s trying to focus on her book when she hasn’t read a single word for at least the last thirty seconds. Plus, it takes a lot to distract Rachel from her reading without getting oneself thrown across the room in the process. It’s pretty much a superpower in itself.

Finally, she lifts her eyes to meet his. Dick waggles his brows once in greeting. “Hey, you.”

Rachel doesn’t say anything, but Dick can read the subtle signs by which she silently returns his greeting. Her usually impassive face is relaxed, content, with the barest hint of a smile. She closes her book, pushes it to the side, and folds her hands loosely in front of her.  _ I’m yours. _

“Class?” Dick enquires, glancing at the sidelined object. Unsurprisingly, Rachel gravitated towards classes in literature, languages, classics and the like. Her coursework had much required reading, which was practically second nature for the heroine.

“Just found it,” she answers. She pauses, then, “How are you?”

Dick shrugs. “The usual.” He bites into his sandwich. Rachel pulls her tea over and wraps her fingers around the mug, but doesn’t drink yet. The conversation has stalled.

Neither of them are bothered, however. They are both admittedly not great at small talk. Dick finds pointless chit chat exactly that - pointless. He needs a purpose to do things. Rachel prefers not to talk at all if she doesn’t have to.

Between them, this is all fine. They are both comfortable in the silence, especially silence shared with the other.

Dick keeps his eyes on her as he eats, content just to watch her. Rachel does the same, least until she finally lifts the rounded mug in her hands to her lips. Her eyes dart downwards, then flutter shut as she savours the tea. In that time, Dick takes in the other details about her - her cut hair just brushing her shoulders, her nails painted a dark grayish blue (probably the other female Titans’ influence) that seems to match her gray long-sleeved tunic, charcoal pants, and general color palette, the slight flush of her cheeks from the autumn chill.

Then her amethyst eyes capture his again, and Dick momentarily finds himself self-conscious. He reaches for his coffee and gives Rachel a quick smile.

She frowns when he takes a long swig from his drink, but doesn’t say anything.

He knows what she’s thinking, though, so he teases her by taking his time to pull his lips away from the cup, raising his eyebrows at her over the rim.

She sighs. “I’ll never understand how you drink that black.”

“You don’t put anything in yours,” he retorts.

“Because tea tastes fine on its own.  _ That _ \- ” she juts her chin towards the coffee “ - is just awful.”

“You’re just not used to it, Rae.” The nickname rolls teasingly off his tongue. He started using it because it applied to both her hero and civilian name, and is the only one who can do so without getting a scowl.

The empath sips her tea again. “And thankfully, I’ll never be.”

She had tried coffee once, when the Titans had been called in at night to control a transport ship of rowdy inmates some miles offshore of the city. They got back late and Raven still had an important mid-term assignment due the next day. Dick made her the coffee - with plenty of milk and syrup to dilute the taste, claiming a single cup would give her enough to last the night instead of having to constantly boil water for tea. He had been right, only the coffee worked too well. It made Raven’s heart palpitate and put her emotions out of control. At the end of it, the kitchen in their (Dick’s) apartment looked like it had been through a minor earthquake.

Dick chuckles at first, then grimaces because that had been a hard episode.

“Guess you’re missing out, then,” he jokes lightly.

“And you’ve been missing sleep if you’re having that much mid-day,” Rachel replies. Her voice is cool, but there is an edge that says  _ did you think I wouldn’t notice? _

“I traded shifts with Gomez, so I ended up doing sixteen hours.”

She had reached for her tea again and was lifting it towards her lips when she pauses. Her eyes flick up to stare at him. Her gaze is not quite admonishing, but holds a sternness nonetheless.

They both accept that between their own habits, respective insomnias, and general  _ lifestyle _ , so to speak, odd hours are inevitable - for Dick especially. He’d agreed, however, to not overwork himself as he had a tendency to.

“I get tonight off,” he offered, a little flourish in his voice. “Dinner tonight? I’ll get takeout on the way back - you pick.”

Rachel’s eyes soften, her chin lifts slightly, and there’s a touch of colour to her normally pallid complexion. Attuned to the ways she expresses her feelings without actually emoting, Dick knows that she is enticed by his proposal.

“Are we staying tonight?” she asks.

“I can stay,” he answers, which means  _ yes. _

He’d told her, when he got the apartment, that she was welcome to use it as she wished. She never spent the night if he wasn’t there however, insisting it was technically  _ his _ apartment.

He knows, though, that she secretly appreciates their nights together. When they are alone is when they can both truly open up. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they just lie together, sometimes they watch the other work. She lets herself explore the range of her emotions, and he lets himself be carefree.

“Alright,” Rachel accepts, and Dick can’t hold back the grin that splits his face, already looking forward to his time with her.

Rachel rolls her eyes slowly at his somewhat-childish exuberance, although the pressed line of her lips give away the smile she’s holding back. Dick laughs through his nose. The simplest shows of affection fluster Rachel on occasion, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find that cute.

The empath ducks her head, sipping her tea to hide the action, and Dick takes the opportunity to finish his meal. A close observer would see him smirking to himself, buzzing from having asked her out.

He keeps his gaze on Rachel as they proceed to sit in comfortable silence. The smirk gently eases into a content smile.

He takes the time just to observe her. Their shared lunch time is ending. He’ll have to start heading back to the precinct within the next couple of minutes. But he could stay here forever. 

Rachel and coffee. That’s all he ever needs.

He finishes his drink and counts down in his head.  _ Five, four, three, two... _

“Are you going to go back to work, or am I going to not get dinner tonight because you’ve been held back by the chief?” Rachel breaks the silence, beating him to it.

“I was just getting to it,” he defends. He rises from his seat and gathers his used crockery. “Know what you want for dinner?”

Rachel hums, gazing up at him. “I’m thinking Thai.” She doesn’t have to say more. He knows where she’s referring to and what her order is.

“I’ll see you tonight, then.”

“I’ll see you,” Rachel confirms. Her voice is light and placid, but he can hear the smile within.

Dick returns her one of his own. He starts making his way back to the parking lot, feeling an empathic presence follow him until he is out of the building. He is still smiling as he mounts his bike (he’s been doing that a lot), shakes his head and starts heading towards the precinct. 


End file.
